THE PAINTING AFTER FAIZULLAH, FAIZABAD, NORTH INDIA, CIRCA 1770; CALLIGRAPHIC PANEL WITH SIGNATURE OF 'ALI AL-KATIB, IRAN, LATE 16TH/EARLY 17TH CENTURY

This painting can be paralleled with a painting of Krishna and the Gopis signed by Faizullah and attributed to Faizabad circa 1765. In that painting from the Konrad Seitz Collection, Krishna is depicted playing his flute, standing under a tree with one leg crossed over the other at the angle, surrounded by the gopis and their cattle (John Seyller, Eva and Konrad Seitz Collection of Indian Miniatures, Mughal and Deccani Paintings, exhibition catalogue, Zurich, 2010, cat.25, pp.86-87). It is very interesting that some of the gopis in our painting are depicted in almost identical poses to that of Faizullah's painting, lying down by the river or swooning and reclining against each other, sharing sidelong glances. Although more subdued in the present work, the palette used by the artist, showing oranges and reds superposed with pink is also similar to that used by Faizullah in his work.